LCQ13: UNHCR to handle refugee status claim
******************************************* Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (October 26):
Question:
Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of the following over the past three years:
(a) the total number of asylum seekers whom the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) interviewed at the Hong Kong International Airport and, among them, the number of those who were under 18 years old;
(b) the number of cases in which the Office of the UNHCR made decisions on the asylum seekers' applications shortly after receiving them at the airport; and
(c) the respective numbers of such cases in which refugee status was refused and granted and, among them, the respective numbers of those involving applicants under 18 years old?
Reply:
Madam President,
Since the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Convention) has not been extended to Hong Kong, a person who wishes to lodge his claim for refugee status under the Convention has to submit his application to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) here. We accordingly do not have the statistics on such applications and their detailed breakdown. According to a report published by the UNHCR in June 2005 on the global refugee trends, claims for refugee status by 670 persons were being processed by the Office of the UNHCR in Hong Kong at the end of 2004.
******************************************* Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (October 26):
Question:
Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of the following over the past three years:
(a) the total number of asylum seekers whom the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) interviewed at the Hong Kong International Airport and, among them, the number of those who were under 18 years old;
(b) the number of cases in which the Office of the UNHCR made decisions on the asylum seekers' applications shortly after receiving them at the airport; and
(c) the respective numbers of such cases in which refugee status was refused and granted and, among them, the respective numbers of those involving applicants under 18 years old?
Reply:
Madam President,
Since the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Convention) has not been extended to Hong Kong, a person who wishes to lodge his claim for refugee status under the Convention has to submit his application to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) here. We accordingly do not have the statistics on such applications and their detailed breakdown. According to a report published by the UNHCR in June 2005 on the global refugee trends, claims for refugee status by 670 persons were being processed by the Office of the UNHCR in Hong Kong at the end of 2004.
Ends/Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:20
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